Major League Baseball

Big Papi says selfie with President Obama wasn't a setup

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:47 p.m. ET

Jimmy Traina

What kind of world do we live in when even selfies are tainted?

First, there was Ellen DeGeneres' record-setting Oscar selife, which was basically a product placement ad for Samsung. (The talk-show host is an iPhone owner, but used a Samsung phone for the actor-filled shot.)

Now comes word that David Ortiz's selfie with President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday was also Samsung's doing.

What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/y5Ww74sEID
— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) April 1, 2014

The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday that the company helped Ortiz take the selfie, promoted the photo and let followers know the picture was taken with one of its phones.

UPDATE: Ortiz, however, said before Wednesday's Red Sox-Orioles game that the selfie was not part of a promotional ploy.

Via WEEI.com:

'It was right at the moment when I gave him the jersey and he asked to take a picture now or whatever, so I said, ‘'Oh, wait a minute, let's see if I can get away with one.' I was lucky that I did,' Ortiz said. 'It was fun. I think it was something I’'m never going to forget. People went crazy about that. You don't get to see that every day. It wasn't promotional or anything like that. Who knows you’'re going to be able to take a picture with the President, a selfie? How many people can guarantee that? It's something you don’t even have to talk about.'

He added:

'I did take a lot of pictures at the White House, but it wasn't like anything on purpose,' he said. 'I went around just like everyone and took pictures. I signed a deal with Samsung a couple of months ago and they supply me with phones and all that stuff. The photo with the President was a once in a lifetime moment. How did I know he would let me take a picture with him?'

The effort paid off because the picture was retweeted nearly 40,000 times. But will we ever be able to look at selfies the same after this?